The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), jointly with the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, submits this report pursuant to the Joint Explanatory Statement, accompanying the FY 2024 Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, Division F, P.L. 118-47, which reads as follows:
Foreign Assistance Transparency.-Pursuant to subsection (e) and the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act of 2016 (Public Law 114-191), the US AID Administrator and DFC CEO shall ensure timely, accurate, and complete reporting of DFC investments on the "ForeignAssistance.gov" website. Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of the Act, the Administrator and CEO shall jointly submit a report to the appropriate congressional committees on any challenges to such reporting and a timeline for addressing such challenges.
Summary
ForeignAssistance.gov (FA.gov) is jointly managed by USAID and the Department of State and publishes data on U.S. foreign assistance. FA.gov includes concessional activities and does not currently include other non-concessional foreign development finance activities. DFC’s technical assistance grants are concessional and included in FA.gov data and reporting. DFC’s other development finance activities are non-concessional and not currently included on FA.gov, although such data is widely available at dfc.gov/data and USASpending.gov.
The Joint Explanatory Statement accompanying Division F of P.L. 118-47 directed complete reporting of DFC investments on FA.gov. DFC is committed to publishing data for its technical assistance and other development finance products on FA.gov, and is working with USAID and the State Department to ensure DFC's data for all of its products is available at FA.gov.
A joint DFC, USAID, and State Department Working Group (“Working Group”) was established to identify the optimal data reporting solution and develop a formal project plan and timeline for implementation. The timeline to fully integrate DFC’s data is dependent on FA.gov workload. As an interim solution, DFC active project data across all product types will be published on the FA.gov Data Download page by June 2024.
Challenges
The Working Group will prioritize addressing specific challenges as they relate to the functionality and usability of FA.gov with the integration of this additional data, including proper distinction between concessional and non-concessional activities, while addressing business confidentiality concerns to meet the reporting standards for FA.gov. Actions to address these challenges will be determined based on: (1) meeting the FA.gov reporting requirements, (2) ability to complete within a reasonable timeframe, and (3) FA.gov workload.
Actions required for updating FA.gov may include updates to user interfaces, visualizations, data downloads, and accompanying documentation, and the underlying data model. Successful implementation will also depend on collaborative stakeholder engagement to inform users of changes to the tool and reporting best practices.
Timeline for Resolution
A detailed timeline will be dependent upon and subject to agreement on the most appropriate way to represent DFC data on FA.gov and FA.gov workload. The Working Group is targeting starting implementation by the beginning of FY 2025. DFC active projects data will also be publicly available for download from the FA.gov data download page starting in June 2024 and continue to be available at dfc.gov/data.
